Debate over desalination, fixes to state’s water issues
Jennifer Walker, the director of the Texas Coast and Water Program at the National Wildlife Federation, said the state should first try conservation and fixing broken pipes, which could save millions of gallons annually, before investing billions of dollars in new infrastructure.
“We want to make sure that we are being fiscally responsible and ecologically responsible, and if we’re losing lots of water through leaky pipes in our communities, we need to address that before we pivot to the solution of desalinating seawater,” she said.
Aside from funding, water policy and resource experts said seawater desalination can pose environmental concerns and affect the state’s fishing industry.
Robert Mace, the executive director of the Texas State University water program, said that for every 100 gallons of water pulled from the Gulf, half becomes clean water while the other half becomes a waste stream called brine concentrate that is twice as salty as seawater.
“There’s been a lot of controversy with the seawater desalination plant in Corpus Christi about that discharge, particularly because to save money, those plants want to discharge locally to the bay and estuaries,” he said.
While desalination proponents need to address these concerns, water resources are a real future concern, Mace said.
“The only drought-proof supply that we have is seawater desalination from the Gulf,” he said.
But conservationists like Walker are concerned this disposal method could pose a threat to the state’s coastline ecosystem and potentially be toxic to sea life.
“We have a series of bays and estuaries along the Texas coast that have these barrier islands that are enclosed nursery areas that are very important ecologically,” she said.
By discharging salty brine back into the coastal water, she said the state needs to be very careful that “we’re not harming these areas in a way that changes the character of our coast.”
Facilities in Australia are returning seawater concentrate to the ocean using dispersion nozzles to rapidly mix the water. This helps keep nearby ocean water at its normal salinity, reducing environmental harm, according to the Sydney Desalination Plant.
Through Tinderholt’s bill, researchers would examine international plants’ processes to identify the most environmentally sensitive and cost-effective methods of disposing brine concentrate. The bill has yet to be sent to a committee, where a public hearing and report could be produced about the legislation.
